Hydrocarbon fluids such as oil and natural gas are obtained from a subterranean geologic formation, referred to as a reservoir, by drilling a well that penetrates the hydrocarbon-bearing formation. Once a wellbore is drilled, various forms of well completion components may be installed in order to control and enhance the efficiency of producing the various fluids from the reservoir.
Production components sometimes include production tubing that run along the length of the wellbore or casing. The diameter of the production tubing is smaller than that of the wellbore or casing. It is sometimes useful to create a seal between the production tubing and the wellbore or casing to prevent fluids and gasses from running along the length of the well between the production tubing and wellbore or casing. A packer is used to create a seal between production tubing and a wellbore or casing. A packer is a device that expands to fill the space between production tubing and a wellbore or casing.
During production of hydrocarbon fluids from a well, it may be useful to temporarily isolate different zones of a well. Zones are linear sections of a well that may be at different depths. A bridgeplug is a tool used to isolate zones by completely filling a small section of well. Bridgeplugs prevent fluids and gasses from traversing along the length of the well by expanding to create a seal between sections of the well above and below the bridgeplug.
Some bridgeplugs and packers can seal once and are removed by mechanical milling after sealing. Other bridgeplugs and packers are reversible and may seal and unseal.